Creating a Lantern

Before we start texturing this Lantern we are going to create a very
simple scene for it. This scene will contain of a single box with the
polygons flipped inwards, which will act like a room. Start the
Lightwave Modeler and activate the Box Tool, then use the following
settings in the Numeric Panel.

Picture 131: The Box Tool settings

Close down the Numeric Panel and press Space to deselect the Tool.
Flip the polygons by pressing “f” on your keyboard. The room is
finished; all we need to do is apply a surface to it.

Press “q” to bring up the Change Surface Panel and create a new
surface for this room called “Walls”, just use the default settings and
click OK. This is it for the modelling part, save this object now, you
can call it “Box.lwo”.

Okay start up Layout now and load in the box we just created. Like
I mentioned earlier, we are going to use this box as a small room, and
we’ll put the Lantern inside it. We are going to use 2 area lights to
fake some Radiosity, even though it wont look as good as Radiosity it
will be pretty close. Once you’ve loaded in the box, select the Camera
and move it to the following position.

Picture 132: The Camera Position

Once you’ve moved it, press “Enter” twice to create a keyframe.
Keep the Camera selected and activate the Rotate Tool, then use the
following settings.

Picture 133: The Camera Rotation

When you’re done rotating, create a keyframe by pressing “Enter”
twice. We are going to move the box a bit closer to the camera as well,
so select the Box object now and activate the Move Tool, then use the
following settings.

Picture 134: The Box Position

Once you’re done, create a keyframe for the box.

Okay, lets set the lights up, select the Light Item and open up the
Item Properties Panel by pressing “p” on your keyboard. Change the
Properties of the Lightsource to the following.

Picture 135: The Lightsource properties

Close down the Properties Panel when you’re done. We need to move,
rotate and scale this Lightsource a bit to fit our scene, so with the
Light still selected, activate the Move Tool and use the following
settings.

Picture 136: The First Lightsources Position

Before we continue, lets change some of the Display Options in
Layout. Press “d” to bring up the Display Options Panel, then use the
following settings in the OpenGL section.

Picture 137: OpenGL settings

We’re only using 1 OpenGL light for this scene; since we are adding
a second Lightsource later on the OpenGL preview might get too bright.

Keep the Lightsource selected and activate the Rotate Tool, then use the following settings.

Picture 138: The First Lightsources Rotation

Once you’ve rotated the Light, press “Enter” twice to create a
keyframe. Next activate the Size Tool and use the following settings.

Picture 139: The First Lightsources Scaling

Once you’re done, create that keyframe. Before we continue, lets
save this scene as “Scenery.lws”, just in case. With the Lightsource
still select, select “Add -> Clone Current Item” to duplicate it,
then activate the Move Tool and move this new Lightsource to the
following position.

Picture 140: The Second Lightsources Position

Once you’ve moved it, create a keyframe for it. Next activate the
Rotate Tool and rotate the second Lightsource using the following
settings.

Picture 141: The Second Lightsources Rotation

And once again keyframe it once you’re done. Since we cloned the
first Lightsource we don’t need to scale it down, but we are going to
change some of the properties for this second Lightsource. Open up the
Properties Panel by pressing “p”, then use the following settings.

Picture 142: The Second Lightsource Properties

There were only 2 things you needed to change for the second
Lightsource. The Light Intensity should be 70% and the Shadow Type
should be set to “Off”. Okay, now we’re done with the Camera and the
Lights, so lets take care of the Box Surface. Open up the Surface
Editor and select the “Walls” Surface there. The Surface Preview will
most likely be a very bright white ball now, so lets change that first.
Right click on the Surface Preview window and a small menu should pop
up. There should be an option there called “Use Scene Lights”, and we
don’t need that one right now so turn it off.

The Surface for the Walls will not be very advanced at all, we are
just going to add a procedural texture in the diffuse channel to get
some variation in the material, but first lets change some of the basic
settings. Use the following settings for the basic Walls Surface.

Picture 143: The Basic settings for the Wall surface

Click the “T” for the Diffuse Channel, then use the following procedural texture.

Picture 144: The Procedural Texture for the Diffuse Channel

Click “Use Texture” when you’re done, and that’s it for the Walls
Surface. Our simple Box Scene is done, but lets see what it looks like
when rendered.